Read back: The final night of HaKokhav HaBa 2018 in Israel

Tonight we will see the 4 remaining acts in HaKokhav HaBa battle it out for the right to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon. After a hard fought battle it all comes down to this one final show.

You can watch the 2018 HaKokhav HaBa’s Grand Finale from 20:00 CET through this link, and join our editor Sadie Trent who will provide a live blog below!

Netta Barzilai, Chen Aharoni, Riki Ben Ari and Jonathan Mergui will be battling it out tonight for the golden ticket and the chance to represent Israel in Lisbon. All have very different styles and qualities as seen in their auditions and performances so far.

Most recent comments to appear at the top, and times to be in CET.

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22:32

And the winner is… NETTA! Full results to follow

22:11

Netta has won the jury votes with 104 points, Jonathan was in 2nd with 88 points and Riki was in 3rd with 78 points. Will the televotes change all of this?

21:45

The half way point jury results placed Netta at the top, Jonathan in 2nd and Riki at the bottom.

21:31 – Netta Barzilai

Another voice loop? She is singing Tik Tok, and it is not in tune at all. Gangnam style, the judges faces says it all really.

21:18 – Jonathan Mergui

He is now singing a song by Bruno Mars, When I was your Man, and he is coping with this well. He also has dressed in the same way that Bruno Mars would. He is holding all the notes without any issues.

21:12 – Riki Ben Ari

She is now singing another power song, this time Total Eclipse of the heart by Bonnie Tyler. She is proper going for it tonight, she is wearing long pink tonight. She is hitting the top notes with no struggle. She is really impressing by singing this power ballad by a former UK Eurovision singer.

21:10

After the judges knocked out Chen, the 3 super finalists are Netta Barzilai, Riki Ben Ari and Jonathan Mergui.

20:56 – Netta Barzilai

She is wearing a long gold wrap round thing. She mixing different aspects of her voice by using a mix deskon a vocal loop (is that allowed in eurovision even). Again she is singing in Hebrew (with no translations). Her top vocals are really strong though. This is a pop song with some rock elements. She did struggle with the top notes towards the end though. She finished on 74% meaning Chen Aharoni is in last position and in most risk of elimination going into the super final.

20:39 – Riki Ben Ari

She is singing Proud Mary by Tina Turner, wow what a song to pick, very challenging. She starts off really well vocally. She is getting into this performance, in the quicker parts of the song she is managing to keep up just fine, and her vocals are keeping up as well. She was wearing a fringe dress just like Tina Turner would have worn. She finished on 81% so is now in 2nd place currently.

20:25 – Chen Aharoni

He is singing in Hebrew (and there are no English translations to what the song is called). He is also able to quickly change notes. He is dressed smart casual in a salmon pink casual suit. His staging is really nice, compromises of 4 people playing different instruments, and that adds a really nice depth to this song. This is a mix of pop and a ballad, but more on the pop side. He finished on 72%

20:19 – Jonathan Mergui

Jonathan is first up in this final. He is looking extremely composed in the introduction. He is singing Get Ugly. He is fitting in with the hip hop nature of this song extremely well with his bomber jacket and chinos. He has an extremely youthful voice as well. He is coping with the quick change of notes in this song as well, so what ever song is chosen for him at Eurovision, I think he would cope with it really well. He looks at home on the stage. He has some awesome moves too an can certainly throw some shapes, and he is getting some amazing reactions from the audience. He finished on 90%